Hammy Mac-n-Cheese

I just love big holiday dinners. Now that there are only three of us living in the house, a big meal means lots of leftovers. So after last Sunday's Easter feast I was left with A LOT of ham! I froze most of it, but I would have felt a little cheated if I couldn't have a few leftovers. I wanted to do something with the ham that wasn't ham and beans. Sorry folks, that is just not one of my favorite foods. I scoured the pantry, the refrigerator and the Internet looking for ideas and finally decided on mac and cheese because I already had nearly all the ingredients. I had several partial bags of shredded cheese, plenty of pasta, milk, egg, flour, everything except dry mustard. So, one quick trip to the store and I was good to go.

There are literally hundreds of recipes out there for macaroni and cheese; I used this one from Alton Brown at the Food Network. Of course, his doesn't call for leftover ham, so my addition is in bold italics.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese 

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 1/2 pound leftover ham, chopped in bite size pieces
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced (about 1/2 a med onion)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded (3 cups)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente (about 8 minutes). Toss cooked pasta with chopped ham and set aside.

• While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. The idea here is to cook the floury taste out of the flour. You want it to have a nice nutty smell and to be a gorgeous warm brown in color. If you've ever had a homemade mac and cheese that tastes gritty or flour-y, someone in the kitchen rushed this step. Make sure it's free of lumps.

• Stir in the milk (slowly and keep stirring, you don't want to get lumps), onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

• Temper in the egg (I put my egg in a bowl with high sides and beat it, then slowly pour the hot liquid from the pan in to the bowl while continuing to whisk the egg. This brings the egg up to temperature with the hot ingredients without scrambling it. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds). Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. I like mine extra cheesy so I added another 1/2 cup that was just hanging around in the frig.
• Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

 

This was marvelous! To be honest though, next time I'll use less onion and add some garlic. It's just a personal preference. I'm new to the use of onions in my cooking and I find that I definitely prefer them in smaller doses.